ORGANIZING NOTES
May 16th, 2023
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Join Community and Labor struggles that make a difference
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With Organizing Notes, ORMA is reaching out to our diverse membership, telling the stories about our organization and our allies, while offering opportunities for engagement in climate, community, education, labor, and social justice actions that make a difference to millions of people across the state. When our work has an impact it is because people like you contribute time and energy. Please use
THIS FORM to let us know how you would like to become more engaged. If there is an issue that needs attention and you think ORMA needs to focus on, and you can help make that happen, tell us about it. Invest in Change Now!If
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The group was founded in 2017 to work with the state and national Our Revolution groups by those who worked on Senator Bernie’s Sanders presidential campaign in 2016 in Newton. In 2020, the focus was again on the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders. The group expanded in 2021 to include Our Revolution supporters in Waltham and Watertown. The group held a progressive picnic in the summer of 2021 for activists in all three towns. The Steering Committee currently meets about once a month via Zoom and serves to connect, communicate, and support each other’s work on various issues.
The current focus is several areas:
National Priorities
Defending Voting Rights and Democracy
Defending Reproductive Rights
Housing Affordability
State Priorities
Massachusetts Medicare for All
Transparency and Accountability of the State Legislature
Housing Affordability
Local Priorities
Protecting the Tree Canopy
Opposing Plans to Install Cancer Turf
Holding Local Officials Accountable for their Actions or Inactions in the fall elections
Housing Affordability
The main activity of the group has been to publish newsletters highlighting events and action areas. There are currently 525 subscribers on the email list and newsletters have gone out about monthly in 2023. The most recent issue was number 135 since 2017.
To get involved send an email to OurRevolutionNWW@gmail.com.
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MA-PEACH Co-Sponsor Action Alert!
“An Act to Create Equitable Approaches to Public Health”
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We know that well over 90% of 911 calls are for nonviolent emergencies, that is, for wellness checks, reported vagrancy, and personal crises. When 911 responders are armed police, violence frequently results, and too often the needs of the person who is the focus of the call are ignored.
The state legislature is considering bills that would fund local unarmed emergency responders to emergencies that would involve social workers, peer responders, and other behavioral health specialists. Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa and Senator Paul Mark have filed (H2264 and S1407) An Act to Create Equitable Approaches to Public Health.
Please ask your representative and senator to cosponsor these bills! Time is short.
Send a Letter to Your Representative HERE and Senator HERE
MA PEACH, (Massachusetts Public Equitable Approaches to Community Health), is a coalition in which ORMA participates that promotes the creation of new, local, alternative emergency programs. If you are interested in joining, Sign Up to Volunteer Here
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Ask Your Senator To Oppose Tax Cuts For The Rich and Large Corporations
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Earlier this week, Massachusetts reported April state tax revenues $1.6 billion short of what officials originally projected.
In the face of a possible economic downturn and a debt-ceiling showdown (and possible looming government shutdown) on the federal level, continuing to move forward with tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations isn’t just inequitable — it’s reckless, setting our state up for deep cuts to necessary programs and services.
Can you write to your state senator today about opposing tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations?
Even better: Make a call! You can find your senator’s phone number here and a phone script at https://raiseupma.us/script.
And when you’re done: Can you think of three friends to reach out to as well?
As Raise Up Massachusetts said in a statement, “Senators should treat this report as a red light. Rather than cutting taxes for the wealthy, they should focus on making sustainable investments in affordability for working families.”
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Teamster members are taking on UPS in the biggest contract campaign in U.S. labor history. Hear from TDU activists on the upsurge at UPS and what a successful strike could mean for UPS, Amazon, and the working class. Join their fundraiser on Wednesday, May 31st, 5:30PM at
Democracy Brewing
30 Temple St. Boston, MA
RSVP Here
Can’t attend? Please Donate Here
Read more below…
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A campaign is building to bring Ranked Choice Voting to Boston and it is time to hire a campaign director.
If you live in Boston and have experience and passion for Ranked Chioce Voting, please apply:
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MassDems for Reform (group spearheaded by leaders of Our Revolution MA) is looking for people to help research and prepare a state party convention resolution to prohibit or curtail the use of “Dark Money” in our state primaries. If you are interested email
MassDemsforReform@gmail.com
Sign up here for updates
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Stand With Forest Defenders and Police Demilitarization Activists
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Sign this petition to express your outrage and demand the charges be dropped
The movement to stop the proposed massive Police and Urban Warfare training Center (Cop City) in the center of the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta continues to grow in the face of an aggressive attempt to criminalize dissent. On May 1st the Center For Constitutional Rights joined the fight noting that in addition to what appears to be the Assassination of forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, “… the police are now dispatching SWAT teams to confront people handing out flyers … and have charged 42 people with domestic terrorism.” Read the full CCR statement (including an excellent overview of the issues involved) here.
This is a fight for a forest that protects an Environmental Justice Community, a fight against continuing police militarization, a fight to protect our constitutional rights, AND a fight to limit the unaccountable corporate power (The Atlanta Police Foundation) that is funding and advocating for Cop City!
The ORMA Climate Crisis Working Group (climate@ourrevolutionma.com) urges you to sign this petition to express your outrage and demand the charges be dropped.
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Confronting White Supremacy Symposium
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Seeking Women’s Health Justice:
Incarcerated Women
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Hear Experts Discuss: The Conditions, Increasing Privatization, and Lived Experiences of Health Services for Incarcerated Women
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The pandemic illustrated how dysfunctional and inequitable the United States health care system is. Health care spending, both per person and as a share of the national budget, continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries, and yet its health statistics are worse than any other developed country. This webinar examines women’s health from a specific perspective of justice – the health care challenges of incarcerated women. The webinar shows that the US health care system does not adequately address the health needs of women, and woefully neglects the health care of incarcerated women. Register HERE
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Uber, Lyft Drivers Deserve Better Protections
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Any legislation that aims to improve conditions for rideshare drivers must be consistent with Massachusetts employment law and grant those workers all the legal rights they are entitled to.
By Mark Erlich and Rand Wilson
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The nature of work for thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers is confronting Massachusetts legislators once again. Three bills propose different ways to define drivers’ working conditions. However, the central issue remains the question of employment status, i.e., should drivers continue to be considered “independent contractors” or employees of these Transportation Network Companies.
Uber and Lyft have filed legislation that would codify the drivers’ status as independent contractors. The companies argue that such a status is a necessary precondition to the flexible work schedules that makes rideshare driving appealing. Drivers do indeed welcome the flexibility the job offers. Yet that argument is misleading.
There is nothing in state or federal employment laws that prevent employees from having flexible work schedules. It is simply a business model adopted by Uber, Lyft, and other gig employers that allows them to earn extra profits by avoiding the costs of tax and insurance obligations conventional employers pay as the normal cost of doing business. Their scheme robs workers of the protections — minimum wage, overtime, unemployment compensation, paid sick leave, and the right to organize a union — that a century of state and federal legislation have established. These TNC drivers function in every respect as employees and should have the protections associated with that status along with the options of flexibility. Read Full Article Here
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ORMA depends on your support to continue Bernie’s Political Revolution to create a society, a politics, and an economy that works for everyone, not just billionaires, corporations and the political elite.
If you value Organizing Notes and its twice a month distribution schedule, please make a donation to ensure its continued existence.
Invest in Change Now!
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Please send requests for action items, articles or upcoming events
for the next Organizing Notes to
beccobrien.orma@gmail.com
no later than Thursday, May 24th.
We’d love to have you send us your favorite pictures of Bernie here in MA!
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Campaigns End, Movements Endure
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